Those home automation products are marketed to the people who have the money to buy such fancy home automation widgets.
Those people also typically want to "save the environment", but I doubt they want to save it so much, that shaving a fiver off their power bill means they get a thermostat tell them when to wash their dishes and do their laundry.
Putting the dishes and clothes in and out is still a manual activity, so this makes absolutely no sense to be scheduled by a thermostat, unless you have waaaay too much free time on your hands.
Right. I'm saying that I expect the marketing to be at the point of sale of the dishwasher and to be rather mild, so that it mostly targets people that already own a compatible thermostat. Or in press releases and the like.
I think home automation is mostly composed of things that sound neat and provide modest utility; Nest might pay itself off faster, but most buildings would see more benefit from increased insulation. Something like programmable lighting is fantastic, but it probably isn't going to save much money or energy, and switches just aren't that burdensome. I'm glad there are people trying to figure it all out, at some point the cost might get low enough where "neat" is enough justification.
Those people also typically want to "save the environment", but I doubt they want to save it so much, that shaving a fiver off their power bill means they get a thermostat tell them when to wash their dishes and do their laundry.
Putting the dishes and clothes in and out is still a manual activity, so this makes absolutely no sense to be scheduled by a thermostat, unless you have waaaay too much free time on your hands.